Man has testicles mauled off

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by GePap
So in the example you gave, the fact is a chimp wopuld 99 out of 100 not even attempt anything against the human, while the human being can at choice decide to kill.

Yes, but in 99 out of 100 cases the human probably wouldn't attempt to kill the chimp either.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Dissident

but in the example above, some chimps to kill their young for purely "emotional" reasons. there is no survival involved.

Not quite true, I suspect . Male lions on assuming control of a pride by having defeated the previous leader, will kill cubs of that leader. The lioness whose cubs they were rather than bewail her lot like Andromache or Hecuba will come into oestrus and promptly set about trying to get more cubs by the victorious lion.

Not a Greek tragedy, just the lion way of propagating the species.

" Reproduction

Females will tend to come into oestrus simultaneously and thus most of the cubs are born at the same time. Lionesses give birth to 2-5 cubs, after a gestation period of 100-116 days. The cubs are cared for by all the females in the pride, and will suckle from other females as well as from their mother.

Fourteen to seventy three per cent of all lion cubs die before they reach the age of two (varies according to location). A new male in a pride will kill all the cubs which has the effect of bringing the females into oestrus. This means that only he will be the father of the cubs in the pride. "

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/14.shtml

Primates:

" Relative behaviour

[...] Chimps and gorillas were long considered to be relatively docile and placid creatures, but today we know that they can be vicious killers. In gorillas, the killing is usually done by lone males, intent on displacing a male rival in order to gain access to a harem of females. And sometimes the loser is not the only one who gets killed. A victorious male may extend the slaughter to include the loser's infant offspring.

Chimps can take killing to a more sinister level. Acting in small, roving gangs, they have been seen making commando-style raids on neighbouring chimp groups, singling out individuals for slaughter. These kinds of attacks can go on, intermittently, for years, until all rivals are killed or evicted.

Animal 'wars' like these, are not exclusive to chimps. Many other social species, such as ants, lions, hyenas and wolves commit similar concerted acts of violence against their rivals. If nothing else, these examples illustrate that our own violent history is not unprecedented in animal terms. "

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/killing.html